High Water, Big Finishes at 2017 North Fork Championship VI

“I think this year, compared to years prior, really opened the eyes of both the professional and local boaters to how powerful this river is. Flows went down before [Saturday’s] Jake’s race and morale went back up after having swims on multiple sections of the run. This event and the talk of the ‘numbers game’ – (ie. how many expected swims) during the week before shows that [Organizer] James Byrd has a dream that will continue to inspire and maintain the vanity of this special river. It has proved itself over and over how raw it is.” – North Fork Championship official race photographer John Webster.

Although flows dropped to 3,900 cfs for Saturday’s Giant Slalom Race finale, alleviating the fears of many, the high-water barreling down the course set on the Class V test piece that is Jacob’s Ladder, well, it spoke for itself: